What San Gennaro means to a New Yorker
Carmela Catenaccio Welsh, 80, goes by Camille. A woman of unwavering faith, grit, and humor stands outside the Mulberry Street Bar, a family-owned business that her sister, Vivian Catenaccio, is the owner of. The family has been around the feast since 1926 when her grandfather, Alexander Tisi started it “My whole family is so devoted to San Gennaro, he had worked miracles for us—right now he is working miracles for me, I have stage IIII lung cancer — I am here,” Catenaccio said.
What makes the feast so important is that everyone celebrates it. Everyone from Naples, Italy pay homage to San Gennaro because he stopped the Mont Vesuvius volcano from erupting. “He really saved us and that’s why we are all here,” Catenaccio said. “We are really indebted to him for our life, our culture, and our religion.”
“San Gennaro is the middleman, he’s not Jesus Christ, but if you ask something from Jesus Christ, you ask San Gennaro,” Catenaccio said. What makes San Gennaro so special is that on Sept. 19, the feast day, they still have viles of his blood that becomes liquefied on that day and is stored in the ampoules in a safe behind the Duomo di Napoli altar in Naples, Italy. San Gennaro became a saint in 305 AD and has been celebrated ever since; it is the 96th year of the festival. https://www.dvidshub.net/news/429934/celebrating-miracle-san-gennaro-napoli
When Neapolitans came to settle in New York City at the turn of the 20th century, they came to Mulberry Street. What started out as a small block party with friends and neighbors then became an 11 block street festival in Little Italy that was accommodated for when other families came.
Mulberry Street is where Catenaccio has called home her whole life. She has lived in the same apartment she was born in on this very block. Catenaccio is a devout catholic that has a lot of connections to Little Italy as the San Gennaro feast brings her Italian family all together. Catenaccio has five kids, two of them that are hers, and three others that are from mixed families, and her husband is Ukrainian.
One of Catenaccio’s daughters, Natalie Diaz Diez, 45, helps Mulberry Street Bar this day. She is the owner of La Mela restaurant on Mulberry Street.
Catenaccio is sure to pass down her wisdom and faith-based story down not only to her daughter and kids, but also to the other generations. Sitting on the porch behind the stand is Catenaccio, Vivian Catenaccio, and Anna Catenaccio’s granddaughter. Three generations were present at the festival this day.